A Rain of Endless Leaves
by Akatsuki210
Summary: The Endless carry out their functions in every world that exists, and the world of ninjas is no exception. A series of oneshots featuring the Endless siblings in the Naruto world. Various genres. SPOILERS FOR THE NARUTO MANGA. Complete.
1. Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto**_**, **_**Sandman**_**, or any of the characters, locations, etc. from either series.**

**Warning: This chapter contains HUGE, MAJOR SPOILERS for the **_**Naruto**_** manga.

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Itachi looks down at his own body, lying there in the ruins of what was once an Uchiha stronghold. Sasuke gazes down at the body too, his expression indicating a mixture of disbelief, satisfaction, and...is that grief? Itachi can't be quite sure, because the mix of emotions is soon replaced by blankness as Sasuke collapses next to his brother's corpse. Concerned, Itachi kneels beside his brother and attempts to feel his neck for a pulse. His fingers, of course, pass right through.

"He's not dead, if that's what you're worried about."

Itachi looks up and sees a young woman standing a short distance away. She has dark, unruly hair, and wears a silver pendant on a chain around her neck. The pendant is in the shape of a symbol that Itachi recalls seeing depicted in a book somewhere. It's a symbol of life, which seems rather incongruous, because he knows on some instinctive level who this woman is.

"You're the Shinigami, correct?" The woman nods. "You don't look the way you did when Yondaime-sama summoned you."

Death's brow furrows. She doesn't like the idea of magic that can bind one of the Endless. It comes with a high price, of course--the use of that particular jutsu requires that the user sacrifice his own life. The number of people both willing to do that and skilled enough to complete the technique is miniscule, but it still unsettles her.

"At the time," she responds, "I took on the appearance that the majority of those present expected to see."

"_This_ is not how I would have expected you to look," Itachi points out reasonably.

"You have no preconceived expectations of my appearance. You believe that the experience of death is beyond anything that the human mind can comprehend, and that attempting to comprehend things that are inherently incomprehensible is a waste of energy."

Itachi blinks in mild surprise. "You know quite a lot about me."

"I know quite a lot about everyone. It's part of the job." She moves closer. "In any case, your brother is alive, and you have somewhere else to be."

Itachi stands and approaches the woman, but then hesitates. Death cocks her head to one side, as though curious. She knows that Itachi has been planning this outcome for years, that this is exactly what he wanted. His hesitation isn't born from fear--not fear of _her_, at any rate.

Death knows humans well, and thinks she understands the problem here. "Listen, it's not my job to judge you for what you did. But I do know that you did it only to prevent something even worse from happening. I know that you saved more lives than you took, and that your desire to protect your home was sincere. For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that's enough to save you from..." She pauses, trying to remember exactly what cosmology people in this particular world believe in. "...from Hell."

Itachi just stares at her, and she realizes that she's misjudged the reason for his hesitation completely. He's not afraid of supernatural punishment, nor of meeting those he killed in the afterlife. _Then what?_

The realization hits her, and she resists the tempatation to slap her forehead. _Of course. There's only ever been one person whose opinion he really cared about._ "Sasuke will understand, Itachi. When he learns the truth, he'll understand."

"No. I have specifically arranged things so that he will _not_ learn the truth. For him to live a happy life, it is necessary for him to believe that his clan was composed of good, loyal, peace-loving people. But because that is what he will believe, he will also believe that I am a monster." For just an instant, the impassive mask of his face flickers, and she can see the anguish underneath. (And although it is not in Death's nature to curse, she mentally hurls a few choice words at her sister Despair.)

"'For him to live a happy life.' That implies he needs to believe your lie as long as he's _alive_, right?"

Itachi nods slowly.

"Then you have my word that when you see him again, he will understand."

Itachi's posture relaxes, and the corners of his lips turn upwards the tiniest bit. "Thank you, Shinigami-sama."

"No problem. I try to help where I can." She flashes a dazzling smile and claps a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you where you're going. I have a whole bunch of other people to see today, you know."

Neither Sasuke, nor Zetsu, nor Madara, sees the two figures as they walk away and fade from the world.

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**A/N: **So, this was originally going to be a one-shot, as my way of saying goodbye to one of my favorite characters. But then I started to think of other cool ways for the Endless to interact with the _Naruto_ characters, and I decided to expand it into a series. Each chapter will focus on a different one of the Endless, and a different character (or set of characters) from _Naruto_. I don't know what order I'll be doing them in, but either Delirium or Dream will probably be next, since I have a rough draft of Delirium's chapter written, and am partway through Dream's chapter.

This is my first time ever writing any of the Endless, so I hope I managed to keep Death at least mostly in character.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated, as always!


	2. Delirium

**Disclaimer: I still don't own **_**Naruto**_** or **_**Sandman**_**.**

**Warning: This chapter contains manga spoilers, although they're not stated clearly, being in Delirium's dialogue and all...

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As the sword pierces his side once again (twenty-three hours and forty-one minutes to go), Kakashi sees a girl standing off to the side, watching him. The first thing he notices about her is that, like him, she has mismatched eyes--in her case, one green and one blue. Her multicolored hair is short and wild, like Naruto's. She slowly approaches him, head tilted to one side as if in curiosity. Itachi doesn't react, so Kakashi assumes that she's supposed to be there, that she's part of the illusion.

"Who is she?" he asks.

Itachi doesn't see the girl, and assumes that Kakashi is beginning to hallucinate from the pain. His only reaction to this is a vague disappointment (shouldn't an elite jounin take longer to break?), and so he doesn't dignify Kakashi's question with an answer.

"It's really mean, what he's doing to you," the girl says to Kakashi, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"Who...?" Kakashi asks again.

"Oh, I'm Delirium," she says happily. She waves at him, and a few sparkling purple butterflies pop into existence in the wake of her hand, circle her head for a few seconds, and disappear again. "Ooh, did you see what I just did? I like butterflies, don't you?"

Wearily, Kakashi closes his eyes. This _can't_ be part of the Tsukiyomi, because it makes no sense. The only explanation is the one that Itachi has already come to--his mind is starting to break under the strain, and he's hallucinating. He resolves not to give up any information, not to say anything at all, in fact.

"Yep, butterflies sure are nice. Much nicer than snakes. Did you know that some kinds of snakes can unhinge their jaws and swallow rats and pigs and stuff whole? I bet there are snakes that could swallow a person whole."

_I bet there are too,_ Kakashi thinks. _I bet I've even met one of them in person._

"But sometimes, the prey fights back, and the snake is the one who gets eaten."

_We can only hope,_ Kakashi thinks. Then Itachi gets the brilliant idea of _twisting_ the sword when he stabs Kakashi with it, and Kakashi screams.

"Oh dear, you seem to be in a lot of pain. Like I said, it's really mean that he's doing this to you. Big ol' meanie." She wrinkles her nose again. "Pain is bad. It's like when you're outside enjoying a nice sunny day and then a rainstorm comes along and ruins it. Pain is like rain. They even rhyme. Pain and rain."

Kakashi opens his mouth to object, to tell her that this pain is nothing like rain at all. Rain is gentle and soothing, whereas this is more like being struck by lightning over and over again. But the sword is in his gut again, and the agony drives the words he wanted to say right out of his mind.

"This is an illusion, right? Nothing here is real. Except me, of course. But if I'm Delirium, and delirium is defined as seeing and hearing stuff that's not really there, doesn't that mean I'm not really here? Am I really real? Maybe I only exist in other people's minds. Maybe when the _jutsu_ ends and you guys both leave, I'll still be here. Or maybe I'll just cease to exist when the medic-nins fix you so you aren't delirious anymore. Who knows? It's confusing sometimes, trying to figure out what's real and what's not. Is the guy who looks like a clueless moron _really_ a clueless moron, or is he secretly a genius who's running everything from behind the scenes? Is the heartless bastard _really_ a heartless bastard, or did he commit a terrible evil to prevent something even _worse_ from happening? Do you know? You're a ninja, after all, and ninjas are supposed to be good at looking beneath the surface. Be sure you do that, otherwise you could get into trouble."

The girl backs away then, waving at Kakashi and creating another flock of butterflies. "Ooh, I shouldn't have said all that stuff, should I? Maybe I better go before I say anything else I'm not supposed to. Bye now," she says cheerily, and disappears.

As the sword pierces his side once again (only twenty-three hours and thirty-nine more minutes of agonizing torture to go!) and one butterfly that got left behind lands delicately on Itachi's head, Kakashi wonders if he will remember any of this conversation when he finally wakes up.

(He won't.)

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**A/N: **So, here's Delirium's chapter. She was pretty fun to write--who else would refer to one of the most notorious villains in the world as a "big ol' meanie"?. That bit about some snakes being able to unhinge their jaws to swallow bigger animals whole is true, by the way.

I think the next chapter will be either Dream or Despair.

Please review!


	3. Desire

**Disclaimer: To my eternal dismay, I still don't own either **_**Naruto**_** or **_**Sandman**_**.**

**Warnings: No manga spoilers this time, but this being Desire's chapter, there is a (one-sided) pairing.

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Sakura sat on the bench, staring down at the stone pathway beneath her feet. She was trying very hard not to cry. There were a few people walking past, but none of them paid any attention to her.

Then someone sat down at the other end of the bench.

Sakura glanced over, and couldn't stop herself from staring. The person was a ninja, with a green jounin vest and a Leaf forehead protector, but she couldn't for the life of her tell whether it was a male or female. The individual had delicate facial features and a slender build, but had close-cropped hair and masculine clothing. The other unusual trait the stranger possessed was its striking golden eyes. Sakura wondered vaguely whether they indicated some sort of Advanced Bloodline. But the question wasn't able to hold her interest for long, and she sighed and went back to gazing at the ground.

"You seem a little down," the stranger observed. Its voice, like its appearance, gave no real clues as to its gender. It could have belonged to a man or a woman.

Sakura nodded wordlessly.

"Why?" asked the stranger.

Sakura shifted restlessly. "Someone...someone important to me left."

"Died?"

"No, just...left. He went away."

The stranger sat back, stretching out its legs and putting its hands behind its head, looking up into the sky. "Why did he leave?"

Somehow, Sakura found it easy to talk to this person, even though he--or she--was a complete stranger. Maybe it was because the stranger wasn't looking at her. "He has a goal that he wants to accomplish. It's something he's dedicated his whole life to, and he doesn't feel that he can achieve it here."

"If you didn't want to be separated from him, why didn't you go with him?"

"I tried!" The words burst forth, louder than she had intended them to be. "I offerred to, but he wouldn't let me. I'm just...not strong enough." Her voice softened, and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "I'd be of no help to him. I'm not any help to anyone. I'm just so _useless_!"

Now the stranger turned and looked at her. "And you want to change that, don't you? You want to be strong enough to help him, to make him acknowledge your worth. You want it so badly that it's like an electric current charging the air around you. So why don't you _do _something about it? Why are you just sitting here crying?"

"Because I don't know how to _get_ stronger!"

The stranger snorted. "Well, that's easy. You find someone who's stronger than you and get them to teach you what they know. Who do you admire? Who do you think is strong?"

"Well...my sensei is strong. And some of the other jounin too, like Asuma-senpai or Gai-senpai. Some of my friends, like Neji-san and Naruto-kun. And of course, the Hokage. She's the strongest of all." There was a hint of pride in Sakura's voice as she said this.

"You especially look up to the Hokage, don't you? Why?"

Sakura shrugged. "I guess...part of it's because she's the first female Kage our village has ever had, and only the second female Kage _anywhere_. She's proved that a woman can be just as great a warrior as a man. She has incredible physical strength, and she's the best medic-nin in history."

The stranger smiled. That smile had a strange effect--it seemed to make the sunlight a little brighter, the breeze a little more refreshing, the birdsong a little louder. Everything good and pleasant was reflected in it. "She sounds like exactly the kind of mentor you need--someone strong whom you admire." Thestranger slid closer to Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder. "There's a part of you inside that doesn't believe you're weak or worthless. There's a part of you that knows you can achieve anything if you _desire_ it strongly enough. You already know that, don't you?"

Sakura knew. It was the part of herself that she thought of as Inner Sakura. She thought back to the Forest of Death, when she had sliced through her own hair with a kunai to get free of Kin's grip, resolving that this time _she_ would be the one to protect her comrades. She thought of her fight with Ino, when Inner Sakura had given her the strength to break out of Ino's jutsu and force the other girl from her mind.

The stranger leaned in closer, so that its lips almost brushed Sakura's ear. "You need to bring that part of yourself to the surface," it whispered. "That part of you has the strength you need to gain what you desire. Go to the Hokage and learn all you can from her. But remember that the most important lesson is one that no one else can teach you: sitting around and wishing for something won't make it happen. You have to get up, pursue what you desire with unceasing determination. Fix it in your sights and refuse to look away from it. Let it suffuse every breath and thought and heartbeat, and _never_ stray from the path that will bring you to it. Do this, and _you will get him back_."

The stranger stood up then, and stretched, and walked away.

"Wait!" Sakura called after it.

The stranger turned around.

"Thank you for the advice," Sakura said.

"Don't mention it." The stranger turned around again, and this time didn't pause as it walked away.

Sakura watched it go. _It's easy to __**say**__, "Go train with the Hokage." But I'm not special in any way--why should she waste her time training me? If I ask her and she says no, I'll just end up feeling like a fool._

But then another voice intruded onto her thoughts. She recognized it as the voice of Inner Sakura. **Hey! Don't sell yourself short like that! You **_**are**_** special! You always got a perfect score on every exam at the Academy, didn't you? You passed the written portion of the Chuunin Exam without cheating at all, didn't you? You have an uncanny ability to **_**learn**_**, and there's no more valuable quality in a pupil than that! Tsunade-sama would have to be a bigger idiot than Naruto to turn you down! You are **_**going**_** to convince her to teach you, and you are **_**going**_** to prove to Sasuke-kun that you're more than just some weak-ass damsel in distress, **_**do you hear me**_**?! YOU CAN DO THIS!**

_Yes,_ Sakura thought. _Yes, you're right. I can do this. I __**will**__ do this._

Mentally thanking the stranger one more time, Sakura marched back into the main part of the village, towards the Hokage's Tower.

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**A/N:** So, I guess I lied when I said the next chapter would be either Dream or Despair. But don't worry, they will both get their turn. (Picking a character for Despair's chapter is tough, actually, because so many of the _Naruto_ characters have had very good reasons to meet her...)

In Japanese, there are several words for the pronoun "I" and most are gender-specific (or at least, tend to be used more often for one gender than the other), which is why Desire never says "I" in this story. Desire doesn't have to pick a gender, and Sakura can remain confused about whether Desire is a man or woman. (If I were writing this in Japanese, I'd probably have had Desire switch back and forth between the different pronouns, but in an English fic, it would seem weird to have the random Japanese words in there, so I had Desire not use the word at all.)

See you next time. As always, reviews would be most welcome!


	4. Dream

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own _Naruto_ or _Sandman_.

**Note:** Ojii-san literally means grandfather, but can also be used for older male relatives. In this case, the speaker is using it to refer to someone that's not related to him but who he views as a father-figure.

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Dream watched the boy swing his sword, neatly decapitating the oni he'd been fighting. The boy had been dreaming for a while now, fighting stronger and stronger monsters as he made his way across the dream landscape towards Morpheus's castle. Although he was really only eight years old ("eight and three-quarters!" is how he said it when someone asked), he looked older in Dream's realm. Here, he was a teenager, with a thick shock of black hair and the scruffy beginnings of a beard. He displayed a Leaf forehead protector proudly, and wore a green jounin vest over his simple black shirt. Instead of a shinobi's typical weapons, he wielded two unusual blades. Part of the weapons were worn over his fingers like brass knuckles, except that they carried a sharp, serrated edge meant for cutting rather than bashing. The weapons extended past the pinkie-finger side of the boy's two hands into longer blades meant to be used as daggers. These blades were only three or four inches long, but glowing blue chakra extended them to the length of katanas.

With the oni vanquished, the boy relaxed, breathing hard. The chakra drained away from the knuckle-blades, and the boy wiped his brow tiredly. Then he looked up, and saw the tall, black-clad figure watching him from the crest of a nearby hill. An overpowering blast of chakra hit him, making him stagger back a few steps. "W-Who are you?" he asked, the chakra coating his knuckle-blades again.

"I have many names, but I believe your people call me the King of All Night's Dreaming." The man's voice was resonant and deep, and it seemed to make the boy's very bones vibrate.

"You're _him_?" A look of astonishment crossed the boy's face. He had heard of the King of All Night's Dreaming before. When he was younger, Konohamaru and Shikamaru had told him stories of adventure and wonder, and the King of All Night's Dreaming had featured prominently in some of these. He was the lord of the dream-realm, watching over all who slept. Sometimes he helped people, but he could also be a terrifying adversary if you made him angry.

Morpheus nodded. "And what is _your_ name?"

The boy swallowed hard. "My name is Sarutobi Fukumori, sir." He bowed formally, but didn't take his eyes off Morpheus.

"You fight well. You're a ninja?"

"Yes, sir. Well, really I'm just a ninja student. But I'm hoping to graduate from the Academy by the time I turn nine."

Morpheus nodded. "You have been making steady progress towards the center of my realm. You do not wander aimlessly like most who come here. Are you seeking something in particular?"

Fukumori looked down and shuffled his feet. "Well...there's an old legend that if you find yourself in the land of dreams, and you can make it to the castle in the center and seek out its master, you can ask him to grant you a boon."

Morpheus sighed. Why, _why_, did mortal stories insist on turning the Endless into some collection of genies who could be bribed to cater to the desires of humans?

Fukumori looked nervous, seeming to notice Morpheus's frustration. "Is...is the legend wrong, then?"

"Yes," Morpheus said sternly. Fukumori hung his head, and Morpheus sighed again. He might have the potential for cruelty, but even he didn't like to see a child's hope crushed. "What wish were you intending to request that I grant?" he asked.

"I...I was hoping that I could see my father, sir."

Morpheus could see the earnest hope in the boy's eyes. Like many in the ninja world, Fukumori was growing up without the presence of one of his parents. Morpheus remembered the children who had been young during the time of his captivity, who had lost one or both parents not to death, but to an endless sleep that was like a false death. And he remembered his youngest sister's yearning to see their long-lost brother once again, a yearning that had propelled him on a journey through the waking world. Most of all, he remembered his own son, the memory bringing with it a dull ache that he did not allow to show on his impassive features.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you, sir. I guess...that I'll be going now. Thank you for your hospitality." The dreaming ninja boy turned and began to walk slowly away.

After a few seconds, Morpheus said, very softly, "Parents should have a chance to know their children."

Fukumori turned back around, looking at him curiously. "Sir?"

"Come with me. I will take you to your father."

Fukumori blinked at Morpheus for a moment, then a grin split his face and he hurried to catch up with the much taller man. Although they weren't following any path that Fukumori could discern, Morpheus seemed to know exactly where he was going. They crossed bridges over lakes filled with strange and colorful fish, passed through forests of trees so tall that Fukumori couldn't see their tops, and picked their way across old battlefields where monstrous bones poked up through the earth. In the distance, somewhere off to their left, Fukumori saw two breathtakingly massive gates. Each was easily ten times wider and ten times taller than the main gate of Konoha. One seemed to be carved from a pair of brownish, mottled horns. The other had been shaped from pure white structures like the tusks of the war-elephants used by the Land of Earth.

"Er...Dream-sama, shouldn't we be going through one of those gates?" Fukumori spoke up nervously.

"Why would we go through those gates? They both lead out of the Dreaming."

"Well, yes, that's what I mean. My father is dead. Don't we need to go to the afterlife to see him?"

Morpheus turned around and fixed Fukumori with an exasperated look. "Child, do you really think that only the living dream?"

"Er...um...well, I never really thought about it, I guess," Fukumori said in a very small voice.

"Hmph." Morpheus continued leading Fukumori deeper into the Dreaming, away from the gates of horn and ivory. Soon enough they came to what appeared to be a park, with neatly trimmed grass and well-manicured flower beds. Benches were scattered throughout the cheery space, and Fukumori's heart skipped a beat as he recognized one of the figures sitting on a nearby bench and talking with a companion.

"So we all thought Gai was joking, but when we got up the next morning, there he was, walking all the way around the village on his hands! I thought Genma was going to die laughing!"

The man sitting across from Asuma chuckled and shook his head. "It's nice to know that some things never change," he said. "Speaking of Gai, did I ever tell you about the time he tried to get Mikoto-chan to go out with him? This was before she met Fugaku-san, obviously."

"Oh, _this _I have gotta hear," Asuma replied, tapping out his cigarette ashes in a stone urn that suddenly popped into existence next to the bench.

Morpheus cleared his throat, and both of the men on the park bench turned around quickly, looking startled. Asuma's eyes widened as he caught sight of the boy standing next to Morpheus. Fukumori seemed to be getting younger before Morpheus's eyes, reverting to his true appearance. (Or perhaps it would be more correct to say that he reverted to his waking appearance, since dreams sometimes show things that are just as true as the events of the waking world.)

"Uh...I'm gonna head back, okay?" Asuma's companion said uneasily.

"Yeah. See you later, Hayate," Asuma replied absently. He was still staring at Fukumori and trying to figure out what to say.

"...Dad?" Fukumori had been planning for this moment for months. Although specialized genjutsu training didn't generally occur until after students had graduated from the Academy, he had convinced Iruka to teach him some of the basics so that he could gain greater control over his unconscious mind and guide his dreams. Often he had glimpsed Morpheus's magnificent palace in the distance, but had always woken up before he could get anywhere near it. But he had refused to give up, had kept trying night after night. Now that he had finally succeeded, he found himself nervous and uncertain. What did you say to a parent you had never met?

Asuma swallowed hard, crushed out his cigarette in the urn (which promptly disappeared back to wherever it had come from), and approached his young son. "I see you're using my old knuckle-blades," he finally said with a smile.

Fukumori nodded. "Shikamaru-ojiisan gave them to me," he responded. "I'm pretty good with them, but I can't use chakra to make them longer when I'm awake."

Asuma nodded. "It took me a long time to learn that trick, too," he said. "Your grandfather spent hours trying to teach me. I used to get so frustrated, and he'd say, 'Asuma-kun, there is no need to be in such a hurry. Have confidence in yourself, that you will learn the things you need to learn in your own good time.'"

"What was he like? Everyone in the village talks about what a great shinobi he was, but what was he like as a _person_?"

"Hmm...He was wise. Intelligent--and no, 'wise' and 'intelligent' aren't always the same thing. Kind-hearted, although he could be stern when he needed to be. He viewed leadership as a serious responsiblity--he understood that the Hokage exists to serve the village, not the other way around. And he considered protecting the children of Konoha to be his most sacred duty, because he knew that our future depended on them."

Fukumori nodded, then looked down, scuffing his feet against the ground. "Dad...why did you leave Mom and me?"

Asuma had been smiling fondly as he talked about the Third Hokage, but now his face fell. "Didn't Shikamaru ever tell you how...how I died?"

"He told me _how_ it happened, but I don't understand _why_? Why couldn't you have just run away from that guy, or let somebody else fight him? You knew Mom was going to have a baby--why didn't you stay around to take care of us? Were you...were you ashamed of me because you and Mom weren't married? Did you not want me?"

Asuma dropped to his knees. "Oh gods, son, that's not why..." His voice was thick. "Son. I don't even know your name."

"I'm Fukumori."

"Fukumori...I loved your mother, and I was so happy that she wanted to be with me. I could _never_ be ashamed of a child of ours. The idea of raising a child...I'll admit that I was scared. I didn't know if I could live up to the responsiblity, if I had what it took to raise you not just as a good ninja but as a good _man_. But I would never have abandoned your mother and you. If I had lived, I would have raised you as best I could. The only reason I left was because...because I wanted to protect you. I had to do all I could to make the world a safe place for you to grow up in, even if it cost me my life. I didn't leave because I didn't love you. I left because I _did_ love you." Asuma wrapped his arms around his son in a fatherly hug. "Do you understand?"

Fukumori sniffled, his voice muffled against Asuma's shoulder. "I...I think so." Fukumori pulled away from Asuma and wiped his streaming eyes. "I"m...really glad I got to meet you. I think that you would have been a good dad. I think you a_re_ a good dad." He backed away a few steps, and Morpheus stepped up next to him.

"Are you ready to wake up now?" he asked in a voice that was oddly gentle for a being so ancient and formidable.

Fukumori nodded. Morpheus stretched out a hand, and a swirl of sand seemed to detach itself from Fukumori. As it returned itself to Morpheus's pouch, Fukumori faded away, eventually disappearing entirely.

Asuma remained kneeling before Morpheus. "Is it time for me to go as well?"

"Yes." He stretched out his hand again, and the sand of dreams separated itself from Asuma.

As Asuma faded, he asked, "When I was talking to my son, there was an...odd...look on your face. I don't know much about the Endless, but I got the feeling that you understand the experience of being a parent. If it's not a rude question, may I ask if you have any children of your own?"

Perhaps Morpheus did not deign to answer, or perhaps he did and Asuma simply woke up before he could hear it. Either way, no one knows what, if anything, the Lord of Dreams said in reply.

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**A/N:** Holy crap, a chapter _without_ manga spoilers!

Thetitle "King of All Night's Dreaming" for Morpheus is from the _Sandman_ side-volume _The Dream Hunters_, which is based on a Japanese folktale. Although it's not one of the ten regular _Sandman_ volumes, it was written by Neil Gaiman, so I'm assuming it counts as canon.

Next up will be either Despair or Destruction. See you all next time!


	5. Despair

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I still don't own _Naruto_ or _Sandman_.

* * *

Gaara peeked out from behind his protective sand shield at the body of the latest assassin sent by his father. The man groaned softly, blood staining his green jounin vest.

_Why? Why does my own father hate me? Why did I have to be born a monster?_ Gaara knew that everyone in the village--even his own brother and sister--shrank away from him in fear. He had dealt with many such assassination attempts before. He hadn't spoken to his father in months. When the Kazekage came home to see Kankurou and Temari, he avoided Gaara like the plague. Eventually, Gaara had stopped even trying to talk to him. Now he stayed in his room with the door firmly shut whenever his father was home.

_Yashamaru's the only one who really cares about me. He's the only one who's not scared of me._ Gaara sniffled. _I should tell Yashamaru. He'll know what to do. _Yashamaru always knew what to do.

The assassin coughed, more blood spilling out of his mouth. His fingers twitched weakly, and Gaara saw something he hadn't noticed before. There was a bandage wrapped around the assassin's right-hand index finger. It was exactly like the bandage Yashamaru had put on after cutting his own finger to make a point. _But it can't be! Yashamaru would never try to hurt me! Yashamaru loves me!_

Slowly, his fingers trembling, Gaara reached out and pulled off the assassin's mask. "No!" he cried out, reeling back in shock.

The face beneath the mask was Yashamaru's.

_Why? Why would even Yashamaru want to hurt me? Yashamaru cares about me, he said so!_

"Gaara..." Yashamaru's voice was weak, his life fading.

Gaara desperately tried to find a logical reason for Yashamaru's apparent betrayal. _Maybe he's being mind-controlled by some kind of genjutsu. Maybe this isn't really Yashamaru--it could be someone else using Henge to catch me off-guard. Maybe he's being blackmailed. Maybe..._

Yashamaru seemed to see Gaara's mind working frantically. "I wanted to do this," he said. "I've tried to think of you as my sister's precious child, but I can't. I can't help blaming you for her death." There was a pause while Yashamaru was consumed by a fit of coughing.

Then he said, "I hate you."

And Gaara's heart broke.

It couldn't be true. Gaara's father had interacted with him as little as possible, so from the time he was an infant, it was always Yashamaru who had taken care of him. Yashamaru had fed him, changed his diapers, and soothed him when he cried. When Gaara began to sense Shukaku's presence in his mind, Yashamaru was the one who came running at the sound of his terrified screams. Yashamaru had held his hand as they walked through the village. Yashamaru had bought him the teddy bear he'd carried everywhere with him until the age of five. Yashamaru took him to the park, bought him ice cream, did all the things that a parent was supposed to do for their his mother dead and his father uncaring, Yashamaru had effectively been the only parent Gaara ever had.

Why would he have done all that if he really hated Gaara?

**Because he had to, **another voice answered. **Because the Kazekage ordered him to, and like a good little shinobi, he obeyed his orders. He was just doing his duty. That's all it ever was.**

"NO!" Gaara yelled, not knowing whether he was responding to Yashamaru or to Shukaku. "No..." he said again, more softly this time.

Yashamaru was barely clinging to life, but the look in his eyes told Gaara that he wasn't lying. Theonly person who had ever cared about him, the only person _he_ had ever cared about, wanted him dead.

All the rage, all the grief, all the fear of being _alone_ that coursed through Gaara's mind in that instant burst forth in a terrible shriek. His sand swirled around him in a violent maelstrom, obscuring Yashamaru from view.

And through the sand, he thought he saw a figure approaching him. It wasn't Yashamaru, nor did it look like any ninja that Gaara had ever seen. It was a woman, short and squat with unkempt hair and jagged teeth. Her eyes were dull, and her skin had the gray tone of a corpse. On one finger, she wore a tarnished ring with a barb on it like a fishhook. Slowly, she knelt down in front of the sobbing boy and reached towards him with the hand wearing the ring.

A voice echoed in Gaara's mind the way Shukaku's sometimes did, but this voice wasn't Shukaku's. It was a woman's voice, and it was hoarse, as if the woman had spent hours screaming or crying. **No one loves you, you know. None of them see **_**you**_**--all they see is the monster inside you.**

As the woman reached out, sand gathered around the ring she wore, and Gaara felt a bolt of pain as the barb cut into his forehead. _How? _he wondered frantically. _How can anything get through my Sand Shield? _Assassin after assassin had failed to breach Gaara's defenses, yet this woman who didn't even seem to be a ninja was doing it effortlessly. It looked as if she was _using_ his sand somehow, coating her ring in it so that the barb could break through the shield that always surrounded him.

**The only person who loves you...is you. There's no point in loving anyone else or protecting anyone else, because they will never love or protect you back.** The voice sounded in his mind again, and Gaara squeezed his eyes shut, as if being unable to see the woman would make her cease to exist.

The woman withdrew her hand and stood up. Before turning around to leave, she said one more thing, one more thing that made Gaara clap his hands over his ears as if to block out her voice along with the sight of her. **You are alone.**

When no more messages assaulted his consciousness, Gaara slowly lowered his hands and opened his eyes. The woman was gone, but she had left her mark, one that Gaara wouldn't see in a mirror until he returned home later that night.

There on his forehead, just above his left eye, was the symbol for the one thing Gaara desperately needed, the one thing the woman had told him he would never have.

"Love."

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**A/N: **Poor, poor Gaara. I actually had a hard time deciding which Naruto character to feature in this chapter, because so darn many of them had really crappy childhoods.

Destruction's chapter will be next, leaving Destiny for the final chapter.


	6. Destruction

**Disclaimer:** To my eternal dismay, I don't own _Naruto_, _Sandman_, or any of its characters.

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Destruction slipped through the ruins of the village, unobserved by any but his siblings. _I brought this about_, he thought sadly as he looked around. Everywhere he glanced, he saw collapsed buildings, injured men being carried past on stretchers, bodies covered with sheets or cloaks. The wall that normally protected the village was shattered, and a large portion of the forest outside the wall had been demolished. Trenches had been gouged in the earth where the beast had swung its tails, and cliffs bore the marks of its savage claws.

Destruction was not the only one of the Endless in Konoha on this night. Beside the largest breach in the wall, Death stood next to a young man with unruly blond hair and vivid blue eyes. His red-and-white coat was dirty and torn, and his face was streaked with dirt and blood, but he still radiated authority. He was gesturing towards the decimated village, and the wind carried fragments of his words to Destruction's ears: "...leader...shouldn't abandon...hour of need..." The man's body lay next to him, strangely unmarked despite its obviously dead state.

Destiny stood atop the Hokage monument. He appeared to be looking down on the scene, but Destruction knew that in truth, he was gazing at his book. His normally impassive face seemed creased with sadness.

In one of Konoha's plazas, a young boy knelt by the body of a man and woman. His brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, and there was a fresh cut across the bridge of his nose. As Destruction watched, the boy hid his face in his hands and began to sob. Despair stood behind him, one hand on his shoulder in a parody of concern.

Destruction found himself standing outside the Konoha hospital, pushed the door open, and went inside. The hospital was a frenzy of activity, with medic-nin rushing to and fro as they desperately tried to keep their patients alive. He saw his youngest sister flitting around one of the rooms, staring curiously at the men and women who lay on gurneys in a half-conscious state with IV's attached to their arms. A blond woman and pale man stood beside one gurney, on which lay a stocky man with long white hair. The man twitched and muttered, his eyes rapidly flickering open and closed. There was a terrible gash across his torso, stretching from one shoulder to the opposite hip. With a sudden cry, he bolted upright, grabbing the pale man by the wrist. "It can't be true!" he cried. "You would never...I know you wouldn't..." His voice faded away, and he collapsed back onto the gurney. A middle-aged woman with pink hair hurried over, and gently detached the patient's hand from the pale man's wrist. She reassured the white-haired man's companions that Jiraiya-sama was simply delirious from blood loss, that he needed to rest and heal. Jiraiya's two teammates left the room, but the pale man glanced back over his shoulder as he exited, looking disturbed.

Even Desire--the last of his siblings that Destruction would have expected to see in a place like this--was there. Exiting the hospital, Destruction saw a few civilians tentatively descending the long stone staircase that led down from the emergency shelter carved into the cliff face behind the Hokage Monument. One of them was a young girl with dark hair who clung to her parents with a stunned expression on her face. Destruction was surprised to see his androgynous sibling walking along behind the girl. Tears ran down the girl's face and her fists clenched convulsively. "I want to be a ninja when I grow up," she suddenly declared to her shell-shocked parents. "I want to stop things like this from happening. I want...I want to protect both of you." Then Destruction understood. _There are more desires than the physical, after all. At least he/she's doing something helpful this time. What evil could possibly come from a young girl's desire to protect her family?_ He strode away then, not hearing the girl's mother admonish, "Come along now, Anko."

All across the village, family members who had survived were being reunited with one another. Destruction saw two identical men limping past him, each one supporting the other with an arm around his shoulders. Their pupil-less white eyes glanced at the Endless as they walked by. A little further on, a stern-looking young man sat on a pile of rubble, his broken leg being treated by a medic-nin. As Destruction watched, a heavily pregnant woman ran up to the man and embraced him. The man whispered words of reassurance to his wife, then reached out to the young boy who trailed behind her. As the injured shinobi held his wife and son, Destruction saw something that few beings would ever witness: Uchiha Fugaku weeping with relief and gratitude.

And now he was back where he started, beside the huge gap in the wall that surrounded Konoha. The Fourth Hokage's shade had gone, presumably persuaded by Death to move on. His body still lay on the ground--it seemed that, in the general chaos, it had not yet been discovered. Destruction now saw something that he had overlooked before: an infant lying beside the body. It was a boy, with a thick shock of blond hair and thin scars on his cheeks that looked almost like whiskers. Not surprisingly, the child was screaming for all he was worth.

Dream was not exactly what one would call a "warm and fuzzy" sort of person. Therefore, it came as a great shock to Destruction when the Lord of Dreams gently picked up the infant and rocked him in his arms. The infant kept on wailing, not at all reassured by the strange man holding him. But then Dream lifted the child up to eye-level and whispered something in his ear. The child immediately fell silent, looking up at Dream quizzically for a moment. Then his face split into a broad grin, and he laughed, reaching one chubby hand out towards Dream's face. Dream set the boy back on the ground next to his dead father, then turned and walked away.

Destruction stood at the edge of the devastated town, watching the frantic activity of the survivors and the mute stillness of those who weren't as lucky. _How long can I keep doing this?_ he asked himself. _How many more scenes like this can I bear witness to? How many more can I cause, without becoming as lost as my little sister?_

They were very good questions, but he had no answers. So, for the moment, he simply started walking, making his way to the next place.

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**A/N:** Wow, is it the second-to-last chapter already? This story seems to have gone by so fast!

In case anyone couldn't tell, the boy with Despair is Iruka, and the two identical white-eyed shinobi are Hyuuga Hiashi and Hizashi. I left the contents of Dream's message to baby Naruto intentionally vague, so you can decide for yourselves what you think he said.

The next and last chapter will, of course, be Destiny.


	7. Destiny

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own _Naruto_ or _Sandman_.

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_As he walks the paths of his garden, the oldest of the seven siblings turns a page in his book. Although his eyes are uniformly white, with no trace of pupil or iris, somehow he can still read the words that flicker and dance on the paper..._

"But I've never made a speech before!"

"Well, surely you've written out everything you want to say and practiced it a couple of times, right?" Sakura tried her best to be reassuring. Catching sight of the look on Naruto's face, she said, "_Right_, Naruto?"

"Uh...well, not exactly..." Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Idiot," Sasuke said in his usual disdainful tone.

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'!" A vein in Sakura's forehead was throbbing dangerously.

"Well, you know, I couldn't think of anything really good to say. Everything I tried sounded either really pretentious or really trite."

"...Since when do you know words like 'pretentious'?" This was Sasuke chiming in again.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Hinata said encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll do alright."

"Aww, thanks Hinata-chan! It's really sweet of you to say that!"

Hinata blushed furiously, and Sakura got ready to catch her just in case, but the heir to the Hyuuga clan managed not to faint at Naruto's compliment.

"But Naruto-san!" Lee exclaimed. "Everyone in our village is waiting to hear your vibrant and youth-filled speech! You cannot disappoint them!"

There was a loud cheer from outside. "Naruto, that means the introductory speech by Kakashi-sensei is over. It's your turn now! What are you going to do?"

Naruto grinned at Sakura. "I guess I'll just have to wing it!"

Sakura gaped at him, Sasuke shook his head, Lee gave him a thumbs-up sign, and Hinata fervently wished him luck.

And Naruto walked out onto the stage.

The entire village had gathered in the plaza beneath the Hokage monument. Naruto was pleased to see Iruka standing near the front of the crowd, beaming with pride. Kakashi had retreated to the side of the stage, where he looked up from his book long enough to give Naruto a wink. Gai was grinning and flashing a double thumbs-up sign. Next to Kakashi, Gaara stood in his formal Kazekage robes, with his two bodyguards--Temari and Kankuro--by his side. Konohamaru was standing close to Iruka, and as he caught sight of Naruto, he waved and pointed enthusiastically at the new chuunin vest he wore.

Naruto stood at the podium, took a deep breath, and began.

"So, I was up all last night trying to think of something to say, but nothing really sounded right. I kept trying to come up with all these grand words that would really impress everybody. But the whole time, I just kept thinking about all the people who've been important in my life. I remembered Old Man Third, and Iruka-sensei, and Kakashi-sensei, and Jiraiya, and Old Lady Tsunade, and my teammates, and Neji-san and Lee-san and Gaara-san, and...I couldn't really think of any words grand enough to say how much all those people mean to me.

You know, when I was a kid, I wanted to be Hokage so that people would acknowledge me. I just wanted everybody in the village to say how great I was. But being Hokage isn't about that. It's about...it's about making the people who love you proud, protecting all the people that are important to you, and teaching the younger generation so they'll grow up to be just as good as you are. Maybe even better.

When the Akatsuki was coming after me, you guys all protected me, even though it was really dangerous. Iruka-sensei taught me that when somebody does something nice for you, you're supposed to pay them back for it. So, I'll do the same thing for you that you did for me. I'll protect this village and everyone in it, even if it costs me my life! Because _that's_ what being Hokage means!"

_As Destiny ran his fingers over the words, he experienced everything as if he were there in person. He heard the thunderous cheers, saw the tears streaming down Gai's face, saw the look of quiet pride hidden behind Kakashi's mask. He read the final sentence on the page:_

And so it happened that Uzumaki Naruto became the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

_And Destiny smiled.

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_**A/N: **Well, we're finally at the end. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it! This last chapter was the easiest one for me to write--with the exception of Destiny's inclusion, it's pretty much how I think the _Naruto_ series should end.

Many thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story!


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